


Sleepless Nights

by ayyyeli



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Gen, I Don't Even Know, I Will Go Down With This Ship, M/M, Nico Feels, Nico is really bad with words, Post-The Blood of Olympus, Pre-The Trials of Apollo, SO, Sad Nico, Tags Are Hard, Will trys to take care of nico, and feelings, and he doesn't know how to deal, and my shitty writing, and self hate, bc reasons, but he does acutally, but it gets better and turns into cute fluff, everyone's left already tho, hes also got a really big crush on will, like two curse words, nico doesnt want to deal with his shit, nico has the scars from the werewolf attack, none of the seven are at camp half blood tho, possible tw?, prepare for angst in the next chapter, sad nico with sad thoughts, solangelo, this whole thing is a mess, will is a dork
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-26
Updated: 2017-07-07
Packaged: 2018-10-24 07:22:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10736907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ayyyeli/pseuds/ayyyeli
Summary: Nico's sad and feels useless.Will wants to help.Will, being the sweetheart he is, he tries to make Nico feel better.Nico pretends not to feel, but he secretly enjoys Will's company... Until he fucks it up





	1. Chapter 1

Nico was crying.  He hoped to the Gods that no one could hear him, but the chances of someone even being close to his cabin at 12:23 AM was a pretty big stretch.  And besides, it's not like anyone cared, right? ... _Right?_

 

It didn't really matter even if people heard him crying or not, no one was going to check on him.  Piper, Jason, and Coach Hedge and his family were all in Southern California staying with Tristan McLean, Piper’s father.  Percy and Annabeth were upstate with Percy’s mom and stepdad, studying for some stupid entrance exams to some stupid school.  Hazel, Frank, and Reyna went back to Camp Jupiter -no surprise there.  And Leo? Well as far as Nico _knew_ , Leo was dead (He’d like to believe that he was only missing, since Leo’s death had been nothing like Nico had ever felt before).

 

And the campers at Camp Half-Blood?  Well, they were all too scared of or hated the Ghost King to even come near him.

 

Nico sat in the corner of his cabin, his back sliding down the wall as he cried his eyes out. He cried.. Sobbed..  Whatever the words were, there were red hot tears streaming down his face and onto his shirt.

 

He couldn’t sleep.  He could never sleep anymore, not really.  Not since before.  Before the war with Gaea,  before he came out to Percy, before Cupid and Titans and the Tartarus.  Before Will.

 

Will.  Will Solace.  Just his name alone sent a rush of blood to his cheeks.  He was… Will was… well, sunny for one.  The most optimistic and cheerful person Nico had ever had the pleasure of meeting.

 

_Thunk.  Thunk Thunk_

 

A sound came from the window.  Nico’s window.  He jumped at the sudden sound and furrowed his brows in confusion.   _A.. A bird?  No, not at… what time is it?  12:47 am… no it couldn’t be a bird.  Then what…?_

 

_Thunk Thunk Thunk_

 

It had to be something…  - someone? -, at the _window_ ? _Nico’s window_ .   _What?_

 

 _Wait a minute… Could it have been.. A rock?  Who throws rocks a windows?  Wow someone must really hate me to try to vandalize my Cabin.._  Nico thought, confused for a moment, _unless.. No! That would never happen.  That’s even cliche for romantic comedy movies.. And besides, no one here likes me any-_

 

_Thunk_

 

Nico was feeling weird emotions. _Fear? Anxiety?  But also … Hope?  What is wrong with me?_  He pulled the blinds up, as if to look outside, but couldn’t see anyone. _Geze, asshole, it’s dark outside, you wouldn’t see anything anyway.._

 

_Tap Tap Tap_

 

 _Who in their right mind..?  It’s 1 am.._ Knocking - On the door.  Well.. Nico would probably get shit if he didn’t open it, and he _was_ pretty curious about who it was and what they were doing here.

 

He looked down at his body and wondered if he should change into something that left more to the imagination, he was only wearing boxers and an old t shirt, you could see almost all of his legs and arms, even his shoulders were slightly visible.

 

He could see how thin he had gotten, all skin and bone from the Tartarus.  He could see his scars, that he got from a wolf when defending Reyna, Coach Hedge, and the Athena Parthenos right before the finale battle with Gaea broke out.  His eyes were dark and his hair hung limply around his face.  Nico decided he didn’t care, that he shouldn’t care, so he just went to answer the door as is.

 

When Nico opened the door, he didn’t swing it wide open so anyone could just come in without him knowing who it was, he just opened it wide enough to see outside.

 

It was Will.  

 

“Will?”  Nico scrunched his eyebrows up in confusion and prayed to the gods that it was too dark to notice if a certain Son of Hades was blushing.

 

“Hey, Nico.  I.. uh, can I come in?”  Will shouldered a pack, like he was carrying something heavy that he couldn’t wait to put down.

 

“Um” Nico shrugged and his blush deepened, “Sure, sure. I, uh, I guess, yeah. Uh, come on in.”  Nico opened the door and let Will in.  Huh, he _was_ carrying something.  It looked like a backpack storage thing.

 

“What, what’s that?” Nico muttered, motioning to the backpack.

 

“Oh this?  I noticed you haven’t been at dinner for a couple weeks now..  I was thinking to bring you some food.”  Will smiled, and handed the pack to Nico.  “Careful, it’s pretty heavy,”  He said, as Nico just set it down next to his bed.

 

“Uh… Thanks?”  Nico said, shifting from one foot to the other.  “But at..” He looked at the clock, “ _1 :14_ ?   _In the morning_?”  Nico asked skeptically, a blush still evident on his cheeks.

 

“Uh, well.  I-”  Will started, before Nico cut him off.

 

“Look, Will, I appreciate the concern, but-”  Nico started to try to push Will out of the cabin.

 

“Nico!”  Will grabbed his arm.  “What on earth happened to you?  Are… Are you okay?”  Will had seen his hastily stitched up scratches on his forearms.  It had been a couple months ago, but they still haven’t healed, thanks to the shoddy stitching job - no offence to Reyna, of course, she wasn’t a doctor or anything.

 

“It’s -”  Nico pulled his arm away, “It’s nothing.  Leave me alone, Solace.  I- I think you should probably go…”

 

Will frowned and Nico’s heart broke.  “I’m just worried about you, Nico.  You haven’t been at dinner, and barely come out of your cabin.  You’ve gotten really pale, and you- you so small, you need to eat more, and stop working yourself so hard.  It’s not going to end well if you keep doing this to yourself.  I’m just.. I don’t want to lose you too.”  Will said, starting out loud and ending with his words barely above a whisper.

 

“Will-”  Nico choked out, “Please, I think…”  Nico stopped himself, unsure of what to say.  He blushed again, this time from embarrassment.  His anxiety bubbled up inside of him, adding to the mix of fear , aggravation, exhaustion, and.. Amusement?   _No, that wasn’t the right word..._

 

“Uh, thanks.  For the food, I mean.” He finally said, a bit dully.  “You should probably go- before the Harpies get on duty, you, uh, don’t want to get caught sneaking out..” Nico said, never taking his eyes off of the floor.

 

“Yeah..  Right.  Well.  I’ll see you later, then.  Bye”  Will gave a smile and an awkward wave and before leaving Cabin 13.

 

Nico groaned, and threw himself onto his bed.  It was weird, but he did feel a _little bit_ better than he had been feeling.  And hey, he figured out what word he was looking for.

 

Love.

 

Will was a complete dork.  A selfless, kind, passionate, caring, patient person - and a total nerd.

 

Nico loved everything about him.  
And he hated himself for it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 'I want to be more than Nico probably expects me to be, sure, friends are nice to have, but, boyfriends? Boyfriends are even better.'
> 
> Will loved his personality, his humor, even his muttering in Italian - especially his muttering in Italian. Even when they disagreed - which they did, often - he still loved talking with Nico (even when he was wrong).
> 
> 'And,' Will thought, 'that is okay.'  
> (He just hoped that Nico would think it's okay too.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> enjoy!

Will sighed and put his head in his hands. _Stupid, stupid, stupid_. He didn’t know why he went to Cabin 13 at 1 AM, but it had seemed like a good idea at the time.

 

He was worried about Nico, really worried. With everything he’d been through over the years, and then coming back to camp and avoiding any social contact except for the occasional breakfast or lunch - he was still sitting alone at the Hades Cabin table, mind you - it wasn’t healthy for anyone, not even for _The_ _Ghost King._

 

* * *

 

It had been two months since Will had tried to give Nico some left overs from dinner at one thirty in the morning. Since then, Will and Nico had gotten to hang out more and get to know each other a little better. They would hang out in Nico’s cabin at least once a week, talking about everything and nothing long past the witching hour.

 

One night, Nico accidentally mentioned his childhood obsession of Mythomagic, and the next week, he was -somewhat hesitantly- teaching Will how to play.

 

Will loved watching Nico talk about things. Especially things that excited Nico or made him nostalgic about something or someone from his past. He smiled to himself as he worked, remembering how excited Nico got when Will was finally ready to play a full game of Mythomagic with him, with no coaching, helpful hints, or going easy - Nico had won, of course, but they both had a really fun night.

 

Today, Will was in the infirmary, prepping for the weekly Friday night capture the flag game. Every Friday, the campers were pitted against each other and by the time it’s over, at least three people need major medical attention. Since Will was only prepping, he didn’t need any help, and therefore was the only one in the infirmary, which gave him time to think while cutting strips of bandages.

 

He whistled while he worked, before stopping and realizing what he was doing. The last time he whistled, he may have woken the entire camp up at six thirty. Needless to say, Nico was pissed and wouldn’t talk to him for a week, on the claims of something about beauty sleep and Will being an asshole. After two weeks, with a little convincing -bribing- from Will with food and Mythomagic (which Nico still thoroughly enjoyed, but would never admit to), everything was back to normal.

 

The door to the infirmary opened and slammed shut, knocking Will out of his thoughts and into the present. _Speak - or think, really - of the devil_ , he guesses, seeing as it was Nico Di Angelo. He smiled, “Hey, Neeks, what’s up?”

 

“The ceiling. No, I actually need something this time.” Will rolled his eyes, “I got a paper cut. Fix it, please?” Nico showed Will his finger.

 

“Sure, yeah, let me just fix your paper cut, because if I don’t _you will_ _absolutely_ _die_. Suck it up you big baby,” Will says, only a little bit kidding. “I’ve seen people get their limbs torn off, what do you even want me to do?”

 

“But it _hurts_! You’ve got to be able to do something; you’re a _doctor,_ isn’t that _your job_?” Nico asked, and Will couldn’t tell if he was joking or not.

 

Will rolled his eyes, “Okay, sure, fine.” He pressed his lips against Nico’s finger, like a mother would for a small child that had gotten hurt on the playground, “There, it’s all better now. Happy? Now, can you help me with preparing and organizing some things? Thanks.” Will said, oblivious at how red Nico’s face had just gotten.

 

“Uhhh, yeah sure. But you should take a break for food. It’s like 1 o’clock,” Nico said, pointing at the clock over the door. “When’s the last time you ate? Because I’m hungry and it would be nice to have a buddy, you know, because of the mood disorder thing. Thanks” Nico said, mocking how Will had used “thanks” at the end of his sentence.

 

“Mmhmm, sure, in a bit,” Will muttered, not paying much attention to what Nico was saying.

 

Nico huffed and struggled to drag him out the door. “Jeez, what have you been eating? Bricks? But that’s kinda besides the point, and the point is that you’ve been in there all morning, it’s time for a food break.”

 

“No? But, sure, whatever you say, sunshine.” he said, yawning.

 

“Looks like someone didn’t get his beauty sleep last night.” Nico observed.

 

“Hmm, _I wonder why_ ,” Will said and Nico laughed. They were up for most of the night playing some mortal card games that Will had learned from one of his siblings. For the games that needed more than two people, Nico had summoned up some skeletons or ghosts that he knew wouldn’t mind. They had played spades, crazy eights, rummy, poker, and like a dozen other games he couldn’t remember the name of, and they both had a lot of fun.

 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, sorry.” Nico said, tapping his finger to his chin as if trying to remember something. They had sat down at the Apollo table in the Dining Pavilion, and three other campers were sitting there, talking among themselves, but pausing to listen to Will’s conversation with Nico.

 

They continued through lunch just smiling, talking, and joking with some of Will’s other siblings, when Will realized something.

 

_I want to be more than Nico probably expects me to be, sure, friends are nice to have, but, boyfriends? Boyfriends are even better._

 

Will loved his personality, his humor, even his muttering in Italian - especially his muttering in Italian. Even when they disagreed - which they did, often - he still loved talking with Nico (even when he was wrong).

 

 _And,_ Will thought, _that is okay._  
(He just hoped that Nico would think it's okay too.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes, I know, I'm the actual worst because 
> 
> a. it's been so long since I've even done anything for this fic and   
> b. this is the shortest fucking chapter
> 
> short story even shorter: I'm sorry but what is inspiration? because I don't know what that even means anymore.
> 
> have a good morning/day/afternoon/evening and don't forget to eat/take your meds/drink lots of water today! Love you all


End file.
